Thursday, November 11, 2010

Russia Exhibits at Indo Defence 2010

The 4th Indonesia’s Official Tri-Service Defense Exhibition INDO DEFENCE 2010 EXPO & FORUM, which is being held in the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, (Java Island, HALIM PERDANAKUSUMA Air Force Base, 10-13 Nov.), is viewed by the Rosoboronexport State Corporation, the sole enterprise in Russia authorized to export the whole range of defense and dual-use products, technologies and services, as the most important forum to discuss all aspects of military technical cooperation with its regional partners.

The exhibition in Jakarta is conducted under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Indonesia. According to forecasts, this year it will host 700 companies from over 40 countries.

Rosoboronexport’s participation in INDO DEFENCE 2010 is another step towards strengthening the long-term mutually beneficial cooperation with partners in the Asia-Pacific Region (APR). The vast experience of successful interaction provides all the necessary opportunities.
As is known, 2010 is very special year for Indonesia and Russia: 60 years ago the two countries established diplomatic relations, while 50 years ago Moscow and Jakarta signed the agreements that laid a unique basis for the development of full-fledged military technical cooperation.

The Soviet-Indonesian military technical cooperation flourished in 1960-1962: the USSR supplied destroyers, ASW ships, submarines, auxiliary vessels for the Indonesian Navy and long-range bombers, fighters, helicopters, artillery systems, armored vehicles for the Air Force and Army, while Indonesia delivered rubber, palm oil and other commodities to the USSR. Unfortunately, by the end of the 1960s, the amount of military technical cooperation shrank, although Soviet-made military equipment had been in service with the Indonesian Armed Forces long afterwards, proving its high reliability and easy maintainability in operation under hard tropical conditions.

In the late 1990s - early 2000s Moscow and Jakarta made notable progress in restoring their defence cooperation. In general, Indonesia took deliveries of BTR-80A armored personnel carriers, Kalashnikov assault rifles of the “hundredth series” (AK-101 and AK-102), Su-27SK/Su-27SKM, Su-30MK/Su-30MK2 aircraft, Mi-35 and Mi-17 type helicopters, as well as other military equipment. Thus new vivid pages were added to the history of bilateral defence cooperation.

Today the prospects of military technical cooperation between Russia and APR countries are very bright: this arms market has large capacity and Russia offers the entire range of the most up-to-date armaments and military equipment. These encompass air materiel (Su, MiG, IL aircraft, Mi and Ka helicopters, a variety of armaments and equipment for them), naval weaponry, armored vehicles, weapons for special operations forces, ammunition for previously supplied systems, as well as many other items, what the APR countries need. The exhibition will address all these aspects.

In particular, a unique Russian two-seater combat trainer, the Yak-130, is nowadays attracting much attention of specialists. As is known, the Yak-130 has been selected by the Russian Air Force as a main vehicle for pilot training and is being fielded with the Russian Armed Forces. It arouses great interest around the globe: according to experts, this is an all-new Russian production program for advanced aircraft offering such high capabilities.